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Thursday, July 14, 2011

Make Poverty History by 2020.

Well, some applaud-able news for the government in the times when it is being accused of every single disappointment that the nation is facing. The United Nations suggests that India has been making significant progress in reducing Poverty in its annual Millennium Development report. It is a report that tracks the long-term goals adopted by the UN and it shows that the poverty-rate in India is expected to drop down to 22% by 2015 as against a 51% in 1990.

This figure is a sign of improvement as last year, the rate was calculated to be 24% by 2015. The poverty rate is measure d by assessing the number of people living under the minimum income of $1.25 per day, as decided by the World Bank.

India's performance in reducing poverty has led to an overall reduction in poverty globally, confirms the report. It further elaborates that by 2015 the number of people who are termed as living less than the standard of the developing countries would lessen to 900million from 1.4 billion in 2005. That is an incredible improvement!

And to put the icing on the cake, about 320 of these people, around 320 million would be uplifted from poverty in China and India, the two most populous countries in the world.

Although the report shows the positive element in India's success so far in combating poverty, it is still much behind China and some other east-Asian counties in terms of eradicating poverty. China, on the other hand has seen the sharpest reduction in the poverty-rate in the recent years.

So, while India's poverty-rate would reduce to 22% by 2015, China's poverty-rate would reduce to 5% by then, as estimated by the Report.

This stark gap is quite striking because in the early 1990s, India and China had comparatively similar poverty-rates. China is the most populous country followed by India. But today, while India at present, has about 650 million people or 54% of the population living below the Poverty-line, China now has less than a 100 million or about 8% below the line. This is according to the 2010 Asian Development Bank Report that sets the poverty bar at $2.

Poverty reduction is the main goal for the UN Millennium Development Goals or MDGs. and also includes achieving universal primary education, promoting gender equality and reducing child mortality.

The latest statement issued by the UN says, “Based on recently updated projections from the World Bank, the overall poverty rate is still expected to fall below 15 per cent by 2015, indicating that the Millennium Development Goal (MDG) target can be met.”

The Nine is Mine campaign is a sub program of the Make Poverty History campaign.

A campaign that is aimed at putting forth some fundamental changes that need to be addressed and looked after by the Indian government.In response to Nelson Mandela’s call to keep our governments accountable to their promise of halving poverty by the year 2015 and ending it by the year 2025, children in India have rallied themselves into a movement called the NINE IS MINE campaign.

Meeting the Prime Minister of India, Dr.Manmohan Singh

The present Indian government has promised in its Common Minimum Program to allocate 6% of the GDP for education and 3% for health. These promises best reflect the aim of realizing goals 2, 3 and 4 of the MDGs (The UN Millennium Development Goals). Along with budgetary allocations children are encouraged to demand for proper utilization of funds in insuring quality education and basic health facilities for all.

Governance accountability therefore is the crux of the campaign. The realization of Article 12 of the Convention on the Rights of the Child (CRC) that is the Right to Participate is at the root of the campaign. It attempts to provide children (and in particular those in situations of exclusion and deprivation) platforms to engage with their government. It aims at advocacy for children but solely by the children themselves.

The campaign has organised a website that would be launched on the 18th of July, which is the Nelson Mandela day at 9hours, 9minutes and 9 seconds. And every registration to the site would contribute Rs.9 for the movement.Do support the change. The site link is www.nineismine.in .You can also join the group on Facebook- Just search for "Nine is Mine". A cause that needs your support.

There are times when we want Change. But we just wanting. We have nothing to do.Now, is the time. We must help those who help us. I urge all my readers to at least register and contribute towards a better Nationhood and a better future.